The State of Migratory Landbirds in the East Asian Flyway: Distributions, Threats, and Conservation Needs

The East Asian Flyway, home to nearly 400 migratory landbird species, is the most diverse of the world's flyways. Recent advancements in tracking technologies have significantly expanded our understanding of the migration routes and ecology of raptors, cuckoos, kingfishers, and passerines, including their stopover and wintering behaviors. However, this region also faces severe threats, particularly to long-distance migrants like buntings (Emberizidae), due to unsustainable hunting, habitat loss, and increased agro-chemical use driven by land cover changes and climate processes. Critical knowledge gaps remain, including the conservation status of understudied wintering sites such as rice fields and migration bottlenecks, as well as range-wide population trends and non-breeding season ecological requirements.

Yong, D. L., Heim, W., Chowdhury, S. U., Choi, C.-Y., Ktitorov, P., Kulikova, O., Kondratyev, A., Round, P. D., Allen, D., Trainor, C. R., Gibson, L., & Szabo, J. K. (2021). The State of Migratory Landbirds in the East Asian Flyway: Distributions, Threats, and Conservation Needs. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.613172